Thursday, March 27, 2008

"I believe in aristocracy, though - if that is the right word, andif a democrat may use it. Not an aristocracy of power, based uponrank and influence, but an aristocracy of the sensitive, the con-siderate and the plucky. Its members are to be found in allnations and classes, and all through the ages, and there is a secretunderstanding between them when they meet. They representthe true human tradition, the one permanent victory of our queerrace over cruelty and chaos. Thousands of them perish inobscurity, a few are great names. They are sensitive for othersas well as for themselves, they are considerate without beingfussy, their pluck is not swankiness but the power to endure, andthey can take a joke."